Love the build so far! Keep it up! Mounting tires in your living room.... Awesome! Too cold outside to fight a tires!
When God created the heaven and the earth and hot rods I think this is what he had in mind! Keep the pics comin.
Nice. I like your choice of parts/components and the work you're doing looks great. This is gonna be a neat car.
What you started with looks real simular in condition to a coupe I looked at locally about 6 years ago. The owner was not wnting to sell it and has since put it inside. Why he had it stored outside I have no idea. Rod
Today I had some time between family get togethers so I went out to the garage and got a little done. I thought I had two rear and two front backing plates but it turned out I had three rear and 1 front so I cut a chunk out of a garbage backing plate I had and used it to patch the hole for the e-brake cable. Now I have two fronts. Also got the front and rear axles in place. I am not sure if the rear end is as low as I was hoping for but I won't no for sure until I get the engine/trans in. I took three leaves out but it still looks a little high. Engine mounts are next, along with trimming down the F-1 trans crossmember. I am going to have to extend the front wishbone to meet the crossmember but I have another wishbone to act as a donor. The rear is going to get shortened as well but I won't know how much until the drivetrain is in.
Today I am going to start on the trans crossmember, and figure out the motor mounts. I am going to use some 2x3 I have laying around and make them like the Tardel roadster, cheap and easy and look great I think. I will post some pics when I get something done.
Here is how my coupe sits with the rear fender on. I have a frame width Z and a reversed eye main leaf Model "A" spring with a few leaves removed until it rode decent.
My pops came by today to work on the car a bit so we made up some motor mounts. I like how they turned out. We made them from 2x3 box tube. We started to fit the rear mount also but he had to leave so we stopped for the day. I am waiting on the correct rear mount for the trans to show up, once that is here we will tack in the mounts, put a radiator on it and see if everything makes sense. Looks like I am going to have to lengthen the wishbone by about 7 inches to reach the trans crossmember.
Before I found a longer 32 wishbone, I was considering doing what Model A guys do when they put a 1939 trans behind their banger motor. You see, on a Model a, the wishbone cup is built into the trans bellhousing. When you go with a later Trans, you have no place to mount the wishbone. The answer is fabricating a cup that hangs from the bottom two bolts of the transmission when bolted to the bellhousing. A third hole drilled through the trans bellhousing into the clutch fork area is also necessary. When you get your engine in, you may want to consider going that route. Clings makes the entire kit, but you can buy it piece by piece at Snyders. http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/3937 ($59.95 wishbone bracket) FYI - I bought my Emergency brake handle bracket here. Mounts Model A E-brake handle to the shifter top of the 39 trans. (A-7001-C: Emergency Brk Bkt $36.50) Check out this PDF showing how the bracket mounts to the underside of the trans. I honestly think you could make your own similar bracket. http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/uploads/A7001A-8593.pdf Then use this replacement ball cap in the bracket you make. http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/496
Thanks Elrod, my 29 coupe has the adapter from clings as I run a 39 case with 48 gears in it. It was a very nice kit but I would like to make this car's wishbone mount to the crossmember. Only reason I want to make the wishbone longer is the idea that longer wishbones make for a nicer ride.
Great build thread! I'll be following this one closely as I've been collecting parts for my coupe and will be starting the same project in a few months. Thanks for the detailed pictures!
olskool, Very nice work. I like the use of miscellaneous parts from other cars. Regarding ride height: The original ride height was such that the rear frame rails would not hit the top of the rear axle housing under load. The extent to which imaginary lines from bottom of your original frame rails no longer, under load, clear the rear axle housing tells you how much you have lowered the body from stock height. Without channeling, the ride height ultimately depends on how much of a Z you put in the frame. A little drop keeps the car from looking like a cotton wagon, especially if your going fenderless. But too much Z defeats the style of the AV8 and kills the period look.
Not really an update, more like something I got that I want to share. It is very hard to find vintage Michigan dealer frames, let alone Detroit dealers. I found this and it is absolutely going on the coupe! It fits the 1946 plate I am going to run on it. From what I can find out, it is vintage 40's, and I think it was a chevy dealer but who knows, they could have had a used A on the lot.
Today was almost 60 outside so we took advantage of it. Got the front mounts in and dropped the engine and tranny in to see where the rear crossmember would go. After cutting it up a bit, we located it and welded it in. Tomorrow, we are going to fab up the wishbone bracket and work in lengthening the wishbones. Also we need to cut the wishbones at the front and bring them up to retain the 7 degree axle angle. It is starting to look like something.
Just emailed Jim (Bubba) regarding my dizzy because I think the one on my engine is from a 37-41. I want to run a crab style and he said I might be able to run the 3 bolt cover or I can run a cam button. Might be easier to just find a 2 bolt front cover. I'll know more when I hear from Jim.
I used Jim to switch over to a crab on mine. Used an adapter plate from Spadero. http://dickspadaro.com/ignition_adapters.htm Jim just sent the distrib and adapter together in the same box.
this weekend I finally got the wishbone finished. I do not have the coin for a 32-34 wishbone so I used a 39 and a Model A to get the length I needed to reach the crossmember. I cut the front ends and yoke off the A wishbone and used the middle from the 39 because they are longer. Welded everything together with 7 degrees so it should go down the road nicely. I am also going to keep the A crossmember behind the F-1 crossmember just to add a little more strength to the frame. I had to notch it to clear the torque tube. I may have to notch it for the master cylinder though. I am having my buddy build my driveshaft for me, he has a lathe and I just had no way of doing it myself. Next weekend hopefully the driveshaft will be done and we can finish up the rear end.
Just a hint since you are building a LH steer car you will have better steering if you use stock 1932-34 spindles instead of the 37-40 units with the deep drop arms. Other wise thanks for posting have been following build up.
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